Tuesday 4 August 2015

Consultation Day at our Penkridge Library again BUT WILL THEY LISTEN?

Staffordshire County Council are again consulting with Penkridge residents about our Library.  This time its the Opening Hours.   Not "when do you want it open?" But, "You can only have 28 hours (less than Eccleshall), and we give you four options (none of which suit me)". 

The Friends of Penkridge Library fought very hard last year to represent the views of Penkridge Community.  The largest petition in Staffordshire, we addressed the County Councillors, we were mentioned in the House of Commons - and we won.  They agreed we would remain a County Council managed and delivered Library, keeping our Librarians.   NOW they are still going on about if you want anything different from what we are proposing, then you must provide Volunteers.  We have already said loud and clear that OUR LIBRARY IS A STATUTORY SERVICE (and Volunteers demonstrated many years ago that we needed qualified librarians to run a permanent service). 

So, once again, the Friends are out in force in the community asking our residents to complete the "extremely difficult to obtain" Consultation Forms, and tell our County Council what hours they wish our library to be operating in the future.   AND DON'T FORGET, WE ARE TO HAVE 335 NEW HOUSES BUILT AT LYNE HILL SO OUR POPULATION IS GOING TO INCREASE BY AT LEAST 700 PEOPLE - AND IF ONLY HALF CAN READ AND WISH TO BORROW BOOKS FROM OUR LIBRARY, THEN THEY ARE GOING TO GET A LOT MORE BORROWERS COMING THROUGH THE LIBRARY DOOR.

Finally, here are a few photos I took today when the Friends were setting up their stall outside the Library.   YOU HAVE UNTIL 2 SEPTEMBER TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS, EITHER ON THE CONSULTATION FORM OBTAINABLE FROM BELBROOK LIBRARY, PENKRIDGE, OR ONLINE BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/openinghours